AX ENGINE / Installation guide
Install AX Engine.
Homebrew is the primary channel on macOS 26+ Apple Silicon. Python (venv) is the secondary channel for SDK consumers. Both ship the same server and bench tools.
1. Install
Pick a channel and run the command below in Terminal on macOS 26+ Apple Silicon.
macOS 26+ Apple SiliconTerminal
Open source · Apache-2.0
Install the latest public release from GitHub releases. v7.5.3 is the current line on Homebrew `defai-digital/tap/ax-engine`.
brew install defai-digital/tap/ax-engineHomebrew installs the standalone CLI, the server, and the bench binary without Xcode or a Python toolchain.
2. Run the doctor
Run `ax-engine doctor` to verify the bundle, MLX metallib, and HF cache layout.
ax-engine doctor3. Serve the default pack
AX Engine downloads the pinned Qwen 3.8 27B AXQ 6-bit MTP pack the first time you serve it. The default listen address is 127.0.0.1:31418.
ax-engine serve qwen3.8-27b:axq4. Send your first request
Use any OpenAI-compatible client. The same endpoint serves chat, embeddings, audio, and vision depending on the model.
curl http://127.0.0.1:31418/v1/chat/completions -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{"model":"qwen3.8-27b","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Say hello in one sentence."}],"max_tokens":64}'